Stop Helen and Douglas House from having to reduce services

A hospice charity will stop caring for young adults and cut its workforce by 40% in a bid to stay open.

The changes will take effect in August, when Douglas house will close leaving many 18-35 year olds with nowhere to go.

Although based In Oxford, they cover the surrounding counties as far away as London.

Helen & Douglas House employs 149 staff and provides specialist palliative care for the terminally ill from children to adults aged 35.

But Elizabeth Drew, chair of the trustees, said the organisation had to adopt a "prudent approach to reduce the service in line with what we can afford in order to keep the hospice open".

The hospice estimated its income over the last five years was £52.3m, against costs of £55.9 million.

A spokeswoman said it was overspending by about £1m each year, and would run out of money in two years if changes were not made.

Helen and Douglas costs roughly 5.2 million to run each year and receives approximately a pathetic 15 % from the government

We lost our 17 year old daughter Lauren in 2015 to cancer, we were fortunate enough to spend our last week with her at Douglas House. The care we received was simply amazing before, during and after her passing.